Emperor’s Domination

"Not interested." Li Qiye nonchalantly said.

"What is it that can interest you then, Great Immortal?" The daoist scratched his head.

"Are you senile? The young noble already said that he is interested in the nine heavenly treasures. Get him those artifacts and maybe he'll have a better opinion of you." Jian Ming chimed in.

"Ignorant brat, what do you know?" The daoist glanced at Jian Ming with disdain: "The heavenly treasures might not actually be treasures. They can be anything, a dimension or a world."

"Then I suppose you were mistaken about your peerless grasping skill. If it was actually as good as you claimed, then grasping dimensions and worlds shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise, don't use peerless to describe it." Jian Ming immediately responded.

"You-!" The daoist had a hard time dealing with the youth.

Jian Ming mocked: "You what? I am merely telling the truth. You're singing a different song than the one earlier."

The daoist's chest puffed up and down from anger; his heavy breathing caused his beard to sway.

"You know quite a few things, a testament to your clan's ability." Li Qiye commented.

"Hehehe, you're too kind, Great Immortal." The daoist's mood instantly became better: "It's just trivial stuff, not worth mentioning."

He spoke humbly but his face said anything but. His face brimmed with smugness.

"Can you show us your clan's legendary divining ability then, calculate to see whether the nine treasures actually exist or not." Jian Ming taunted.

"Brat, have you seen any before?" The daoist glared.

"Well, no…" Jian Ming answered honestly.

"Then do you know how mysteries and inscrutable they are?" The daoist uttered coldly.

"...." Jian Ming couldn't answer. The treasures only existed in a few legends and even then, they weren't documented clearly at all.

"What does this have to do with your clan's divining art?" He argued.

"Fool. How can anyone even start calculating if they have no idea what it is in the first place? Do you know A'hua from Sword Continent? Is it a person or a dog, pretty or ugly? When there is no initial basis, there's nothing to do." The daoist coldly explained.

Jian Ming was on the losing side this time and couldn't bite back.

"Hmph, a perfect example of rotten wood cannot be carved." The daoist gave it another push, feeling quite good about the reversal.

"Bah, all I hear are excuses regarding your lack of ability. A true seer can close his eyes and see everything after a hand wave. You are just an empty bucket trying to put up a front, unable to calculate on top of being too scared." Jian Ming said.

"Brat, tell me, what am I too scared of to calculate?" The daoist didn't appreciate the slander.

"Is that so? Then do you have the audacity to calculate our young noble, hehehe? I doubt you will." Jian Ming taunted.

"Ridiculous!" Wise Ancestor got enough of this and smacked Jian Ming for the who-knows-how-many-times.

"Hmph." Jian Ming snorted and didn't say anything else.

"Well…" The daoist turned towards Li Qiye and became tempted. In fact, he wanted to do so the moment he saw Li Qiye for the first time.

"Great Immortal, would it be alright if I read your fortune. It'll be my first today so no charge." The daoist said.

Li Qiye chuckled and said: "The heaven's will can't be read, it is beyond your capability."

The daoist didn't accept. It was one thing for Jian Ming to make fun of him since he didn't take the youth seriously. Alas, it was different when it came from Li Qiye.

It sounded as if Li Qiye didn't have a high evaluation of their clan's fortune-reading technique.

"Great Immortal, please don't look down on our technique. Our ancestors have gazed into the heaven's will and the future before. In fact, our forefathers even observed the river of time. We dare to claim to be the best in all of Eight Desolaces." He arched his chest and requested again: "So if you don't mind, let me read your fortune."

"Fine, let us see how much you have learned and if your clan's technique has improved or otherwise." Li Qiye agreed.

"Thank you." The daoist bowed deeply and then took a deep breath.

His shady expression turned dignified. This actually made him look the part of a capable daoist with an impressive aura.

"The trickster is putting up quite a show." Jian Ming murmured after seeing this, clearly changing his view on the daoist.

The daoist took out a box battered by time with white and yellow spots. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out to be made from a bone.

With activated heavenly gaze, they saw the box being filled with grand dao power of a natural source originating from the essences of the world.

Inside was his calculating tool - three divinatory trigrams in the form of turtle shells. They had numerous vein lines that were there from the start, seemingly depicting the dao of the world.

They were ancient and heavy. One could sense a faint temporal power flowing through them.

"Incredible artifacts." Jian Ming couldn't help but praise.

"These trigrams can communicate with heaven and earth. They're true treasures." Wise felt the same way despite not knowing much about fortune-telling.